Thursday, 14 June 2018

Jacqui Rose on The Fun of Recurring Characters

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When I was a
little girl whenever I saw a movie or read a book, I always wanted to know what
happens next to my favourite character, to the point where I’d spend hours
writing the sequels of famous novels, everything from Wuthering Heights to Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. So, I wasn’t surprised to find myself having
recurring characters in my own books, though it certainly wasn’t a deliberate
plan, I just think that there are certain characters that still have so much
more to say. They’re like a friend to me; I continue to be interested to see
how they evolve, how they react in certain situations and hopefully my readers
feel that too.

I don’t plan my
books, nor do I make notes, it’s all in my head and the story seems to evolve
right in front of my eyes. I don’t know what’s going to happen nor do I know
what characters will appear, so it was a great surprise to meet Alfie Jennings
in my first book Taken. I remember
beginning to write him and I also remember not thinking much about him,
assuming that he would be a side player but the more I wrote the more Alfie
began to take on shape, and before I knew it he was the lead male protagonist.
Rather than him being just a Soho gangster, he had a story as well as a back
story, he had complicated emotions and relationships which needed to be
explored. Now I didn’t know all this when I was writing Taken, that started to evolve as I sat down to write each book.
Alfie just wouldn’t go away. He had more to say, and so did the people around
him so before I knew it I had an ensemble cast who all became firm favourites
of my readers, though on a side note I do I think it’s vital for the recurring
character to grow and move on emotionally, for them to react to scenarios and
people differently otherwise I think it becomes very stale, they become
template characters, ones that you can second guess what he or she does. And
there certainly has to be continual surprises in their behaviour and they still
have to create that enjoyment with the reader as if they were discovering them
for the first time.

That’s the great
thing about recurring characters because you have the space and the time to
explore them. So yes, as you can see, I do love the recurring character but
there also is a flip side to them…. As much as I love following my characters
journey like a faithful friend, they can make a novel trickier to write. For
example, your book needs to feel like a standalone but still have the recurring
characters which come complete with a back story. And that’s sometimes
difficult; to explain to the reader who hasn’t read the books in order the back
story of the characters without making the regular reader have to go over
things they already know. For me this might not be such a problem if I hadn’t
made my life even harder by introducing a cliff-hanger in my latest book, Toxic! When I came to write Fatal which will be out early next year,
I had to think hard about the balance; still driving the story forward, still
holding the readers but still merging the backstory and cliff-hanger by showing
not telling. It wasn’t easy, but I loved the challenge as I like to push myself
as an author, exploring the whole art of storytelling. I’m certainly a big fan
of the recurring character but one day the question, the big dilemma will be,
when should I kill them off?

Happily, I’m not ready to see the last of my
characters just yet and I hope that neither are my readers but watch this
space. But maybe if I kill them off too soon, like they did in Dallas I can
always bring them back in the shower and pretend it was just one big
dream!

Toxic by Jacqui Rose published in ebook by Harper Collins on 14 June 2018

Sometimes love is toxic…Bree Dwyer is desperate to escape her husband, take the children and
run. But he’s always watching. And she always gets caught. Until her first
love, Alfie Jennings, returns to Essex.Gangsters
Alfie and Vaughn have been out of the game for a while, but a life of crime is
one you never forget.To get back on top
they need serious money, because loyalty and power don’t come for free. One
dangerous job and they’ll have the payoff they need. And Alfie isn’t going to
let anyone get in the way, least of all a pretty face like Bree.It’s time to show Essex what they’re made of.
And this time, Alfie and Vaughn aren’t backing down.